Nagpur graduates' poll: Sole's name stays on ballot despite backing BJP; Wanjari confident

BJP leaders have succeeded in calming the historic revolt within the party in the Nagpur division graduates' constituency election. Rebel candidate Anil Sole has declared his support for the BJP's official candidate, Sudhakar Kohale. Even so, Sole's name appears on the ballot paper.

The reason is that Sole announced his support for the BJP candidate after the deadline for withdrawing candidature had passed. The last date for withdrawal was October 9, and all these developments came after it. The election machinery therefore printed his name on the ballot paper as the rules require.

Sole's name is at number 36 on the list of 38 candidates. Any voter who wishes to vote for him can do so, as his name is on the ballot.

In earlier Nagpur graduates' constituency elections, a candidate who had announced support for another received a few thousand votes. It will therefore be worth watching how many votes Sole, who has declared himself out of the race by backing the BJP candidate, gets in today's voting.

Meanwhile, Congress candidate Abhijit Wanjari has raised concern over the electoral roll. He said the names of 8,500 voters, himself included, appear twice in the roll of the Nagpur division graduates' constituency.

Wanjari is confident that, with Sole's name on the ballot, BJP voters unhappy with the party's ways and Sole's admirers will vote for him in large numbers. Wanjari also said that work at the organisational level has been very effective, so his victory is certain.

In today's election, 2,55,603 voters of the Nagpur division can cast their votes. A total of 445 polling stations have been set up across the division's six districts. Nagpur district has the most voters, at 1,44,466. It is followed by Chandrapur with 32,265, Gondia with 22,176, Wardha with 21,742, Bhandara with 21,349 and Gadchiroli with 13,608.

There are 38 candidates in the fray. The main ones include the BJP's Sudhakar Kohale, the Congress's Abhijit Wanjari, Mangesh Wankhede of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and Atul Deshmukh of Shikshak Bharati.

To ensure the voting is conducted properly, 2,535 state government officers and employees have been deployed on election duty. Another 476 central government officials have also been given election responsibilities.